ArticleAnnals of botany2020
Resource manipulation through experimental defoliation has legacy effects on allocation to reproductive and vegetative organs in Quercus ilex.
Article in Annals of botany, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Carbohydrate reserve partitioning and reproductive decline following defoliation-induced carbon source limitation in mango (Mangifera indica).Tree physiology · 2026Article
- Plant functional groups modulate variation and covariation in leaf and seed traits across years.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- The effects of metabolic and functional traits on bud opening: Comparing warming and defoliation in conifers.Plant physiology · 2025Article
- Are Foliar Nutrition Status and Indicators of Oxidative Stress Associated with Tree Defoliation of Four Mediterranean Forest Species?Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsIn plants, high costs of reproduction during some years can induce trade-offs in resource allocation with other functions such as growth, survival and resistance against herbivores or extreme abiotic conditions, but also with subsequent reproduction. Such trade-offs might also occur following resource shortage at particular moments of the reproductive cycle. Because plants are modular organisms, strategies for resource allocation to reproduction can also vary among hierarchical levels. Using a defoliation experiment, our aim was to test how allocation to reproduction was impacted by resource limitation.
methodsWe applied three levels of defoliation (control, moderate and intense) to branches of eight Quercus ilex trees shortly after fruit initiation and measured the effects of resource limitation induced by leaf removal on fruit development (survival, growth and germination potential) and on the production of vegetative and reproductive organs the year following defoliation. KEY
resultsWe found that defoliation had little impact on fruit development. Fruit survival was not affected by the intense defoliation treatment, but was reduced by moderate defoliation, and this result could not be explained by an upregulation of photosynthesis. Mature fruit mass was not affected by defoliation, nor was seed germination success. However, in the following spring defoliated branches produced fewer shoots and compensated for leaf loss by overproducing leaves at the expense of flowers. Therefore, resource shortage decreased resource allocation to reproduction the following season but did not affect sex ratio.
conclusionsOur results support the idea of a regulation of resource allocation to reproduction beyond the shoot scale. Defoliation had larger legacy effects than immediate effects.
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